I know there will be comments along the lines of people are more important than animals, but I want to post this for those who do care about animals affected by disasters and do want to help. The rest of you can skip it.
newyorknewyork just posted a diary that broke my heart about his parents and what they are going through in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. This has to be a horrible situation, my worst nightmare since I have a bunch of cats living with me. After a disaster like this where people are trying to find food and resources to live, we need to remember the animals. I always hope that if I'm in a situation like this I can get my animals to safety and can find food and water for them.
Anyhow, I want to post about an organization dedicated to disaster relief work for animals. After Hurricane Katrina, we saw some unscrupulous organizations pop up and claim to be involved in disaster relief for animals. I don't trust organizations I never heard of. But I can say with certainty that Code 3 Associates is a legitimate disaster relief organization. If you want to donate money for the relief of all animals (not just pets) affected by Hurricane Ike in and around the Houston area, Code 3 Associates is a good group to donate to.
How do I know? I participate in CFA (the Cat Fanciers Association), you might say we're the AKC of the cat world. We've been involved in disaster relief for as long as I've been involved in CFA, and CFA works with Code 3 Associates. I've toured BART (Big Animal Rescue Truck), last year it was parked outside Madison Square Gardens in NYC during our big cat show there for everyone to see. The president of CFA, Pam DelaBar, is on the board of directors of Code 3 Associates and has participated in disaster relief efforts. She may be part of this disaster though since she lives in Texas and was in Ike's path. So the organization is legit and is a good one to donate to.
I'm sure there are others, I hope people will post them in the comments.
And everyone, please donate, if not to the animals then to some group doing relief work the area. I wish I could just drive a truck of bottled water into the area, but I can't. The only thing I can do is give someone else the money to do it for me.